Treat Your Email Like Snail Mail and Walk Away with change
Email is a constant struggle for most of us these days. It comes in thick and fast and threatens to overwhelm us if we take even a few days away from our inbox. Is it just me, or does anyone else think that email is becoming the New Boss?
Most of us can remember life before email, back when we only had the phone or paper mail. When email came into popularity, we had a choice of how we used it. We could either treat it like the telephone and answer it immediately. Or treat it like paper mail and answer it when we were ready, in batches. Many of us have gradually, bit by bit, fallen into the immediate answer paradigm at the expense of our productivity, sanity and lifestyle. Think about how you process snail mail compared to your email habits and you will see what I mean. This is where we get into trouble.
You have more control over the speed of the email in and out of your life than you know. Try this out today. Answer an email in a draft and then wait an extra hour before you press Send. Does the world grind to a halt? Try holding back for a couple of hours or a half a day. What happens?
In most cases, it is quite reasonable to respond to a supposedly urgent email a day or even a week later. Slow down the stream and life goes on. Just like back in the old days of snail mail, if people expect a slow response, then they will work with it.
The speed that you reply to an email directly determines your correspondent’s perception of what is normal. If you respond instantly, then that is what they will expect of you. If you respond a day later then they will live with that as well. You make a noose for your own neck when you constantly try to answer emails instantly. Sooner or later you will find that you are spending all day emailing and will never get anything else done. Now is the time to gradually claw back a routine and batch your emails together for top productivity.
Set your routine
Decide what time (or times) you will deal with email each day. At that time (assuming you deal with it once a day) you will have the last 24 hours worth of emails waiting for you. Set up an efficient system to deal with all of your emails in one sitting. Sort, process, act and delete, until there is nothing left. Then turn off your email. Now that you have done your emailing, get to work on whatever else is important to you. Achieve something valuable and don’t refer back to email until your next scheduled time. Repeat the process. Quite quickly, your contacts will come to understand how soon they can expect a response from you. If email isn’t fast enough, they’ll soon be on the phone, but for most things, people just wait.
This is not the solution for everyone, but it sure helps me. Batching my emails and only dealing with them once a day saves me a lot of time and has freed up my day for doing what is important. If anyone needs my attention straight away they can get it, but they will not get it by emailing me. Treating email like snail mail has revolutionised my communication without reducing my effectiveness. Why not give it a try?
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Tomoleary
Tom O’Leary nearly drowned in an ocean of personal development theory. He lived to tell the tale, dispel the myths and explain what really works. Read about it at LifeGoalAction
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Comments
teacherninja says on November 30th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Yet more great tips from Tom. Goes well with Inbox Zero over at 43 folders. The delay in sending is a great idea–especially when you’re angry! I have a friend who I send grumpy emails to first. She edits them or tells me if it’s not ok to send. I do the same for her and it has helped us out at work.
Teresa says on November 30th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Ignore urgent emails for a week? Sounds like a good way to get fired.
Tuan Nguyen says on December 2nd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Yes, it is easier to go through the unread emails all at once in a day, than one at a time throughout the day.
Dimitrios Saranteas says on December 4th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Yes, up to a week, Teresa. It’s really not about neglecting your emails, but you have to get into the mindset of understanding *why* exactly is something urgent? Is it truly urgent or something that’s outside of your concern (for example, someone neglected their own responsbility and now it’s on your bail them out, and if you don’t, it’s a failure on your part).
I’d personally quit before I was told that replying to urgent messages was paramount to doing my job. Find a new employer.
Craig Huggart says on December 5th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Great illustration of a great idea on how to treat your email.
It fits right in with the ideas discussed in my book Escape From Email Hell.
Your blog is one of the best on the web.
Thanks, Craig.
Teresa says on December 6th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Failing to communicate with people is not an option in high tech. And yep, sometimes I have to drop my current task to fight fires. That’s part of my job, too. Just because I didn’t plan a task doesn’t mean it isn’t important for me, my department, or my company.
This is a really old school article and doesn’t acknowledge the expectations on my generation regarding email as a method of communication and collaboration.
John says on December 10th, 2007 at 1:01 am
I’m a little different. I prefer email to other forms of communication (phone, personal visit). If I don’t answer an email quickly, I’ll get one or the other less preferable interruptions.
Also I type much faster than I can speak and I can better frame my thoughts in written form.
Hardy says on December 11th, 2007 at 2:18 am
I disagree with both Teresa and Tom in this case. I will not die if I don’t answer my e-mails for a week; Granted I may have 2000+ emails and be very overwhelmed and upset. However I will also not be happy if I can’t get to the important stuff ASAP. I think Dimitrios brings up a great point: It’s about prioritizing. If you see an “urgent” e-mail from someone who rarely has an “urgent” case, it’s not a bad idea to put it off. This will not only subject you to less immediate work, but also let the person on the other end know that they are the boy who cried wolf. My boss is the CEO, and I MUST respond to him immediately or when I have the answer. This is without fail, whether I’m on vacation or working past 2AM. However, there are several people in the company who e-mail me things I KNOW can wait. So why not let them wait? As long as you develop some sort of follow-up system where even the most trivial of items receive attention; The key is that everything gets attention in order of importance. This leads to less stress, less immediate work, and ends in a good day.
Andrew says on December 17th, 2007 at 3:49 am
This is the the worst advice for e-mail correspondance. In fact, the best way to get noticed is to respond to most e-mails as quickly as possible.
Sure, treat those e-mails that appear like regular mail as you would snail mail. For example, newsletters, proposals, project outlines, meeting slides, research articles, data. Take time out to address these.
However, for the quick information type e-mails you should get to them as quick as possible. You know, the ones where before the time of e-mail your boss would walk up to your desk and address the issue immediately.
This way, your boss/colleage/etc gets their response and feels important. You get the added benefit of being able to research your response instead of being put on the spot. The longer you wait, the more you risk the requestor to come to you directly. You may dissapoint if you cannot answer effectively.
oyun says on March 5th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
thanks….
kelimetor says on April 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Failing to communicate with people is not an option in high tech. And yep, sometimes I have to drop my current task to fight fires. Thatâ??s part of my job, too. Just because I didnâ??t plan a task doesnâ??t mean it isnâ??t important for me, my department, or my company.
This is a really old school article and doesnâ??t acknowledge the expectations on my generation regarding email as a method of communication and collaboration.